I am a bean counter by profession. Many people think that most bean counters are introvert in nature and do not like interacting with others. So bean counters generally lose out in terms of knowing how to please their boss.

Since ancient China time, all court officials swamped around the Emperor like bees to honey. Even wise Emperors such as Qian Long (1711-1799) from the Qing Dynasty, also favored those bootlickers such as He Shen who was notorious for being the most corrupted official in China history.

Even in modern times, such practices are still in abundance. You will see many of the staff of an organization flocking around the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) telling him/her how awesome or great he/she is. There are also staff who gladly tramped over colleagues or junior level staff or refuse to lift a finger to help out in work request but if the request